Is AI an Existential Threat, or Just Fear Marketing?

Is AI an Existential Threat, or Just Fear Marketing?A Pacbot 310 bomb disposal robot belonging to the 379th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron explosive ordnance disposal flight delivers live video footage of a possible improvised explosive device during an exercise at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, Dec. 14, 2016. The Pacbot 310 is an asset that is easy to transport, can be packed into a rucksack and is able to provide a live video feed for EOD technicians to make educated decisions regarding explosive ordnances. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Miles Wilson)

A recent opinion piece published by El Diario de Hoy pushes back against the doomsday narrative that often surrounds artificial intelligence. Rather than picturing a Hollywood-style takeover by superintelligent machines, the author suggests we should be worried about something far more mundane and, in some ways, more troubling.

The argument centers on a slow, voluntary shift: as people increasingly rely on AI tools to make decisions, answer questions, and even shape opinions, they may be quietly surrendering their own critical thinking. Instead of machines seizing control by force, humans could simply choose to stop exercising judgment altogether, handing that responsibility over piece by piece without much resistance.

This framing challenges the common media narrative of AI as an “existential risk” comparable to nuclear war or climate catastrophe. The piece suggests that much of the fear surrounding AI functions more as marketing—both for tech companies eager to appear responsible and for critics seeking attention—than as a realistic assessment of what’s actually at stake.

The deeper concern, then, isn’t a robot uprising, but a cultural habit: outsourcing thought itself. If true, the solution wouldn’t be regulating killer robots, but protecting our own willingness to think, question, and decide for ourselves.

Curious about the full argument? Read the original piece on El Diario de Hoy.

El Diario de HoySource: ¿Peligro existencial o marketing del miedo? (El Diario de Hoy).

Image: Senior Airman Miles Wilson.